He likes Kirk Cousins; he doesn’t love him. He likes what Cousins did last season; he’s not convinced it’ll continue. That’s why this former NFL general manager views the Washington Redskins as being in a tough spot when it comes to signing their pending free-agent quarterback.

The former GM provided some insight into the thinking that takes place during negotiations. In the end he’s not sold on how good Cousins can be, but he also knows the value of the position he plays. Those two forces often lead to contracts that make fans scratch their heads.

Here’s what the GM, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. (See how his thinking evolves; early in our talk he was more taking a hard line in what the Redskins should do. By the end, he swung a different way):

The agent has the leverage: The former GM said the Redskins must know this and can’t panic. “Right now you know that any deal that makes sense for you given who he really is, is not going to be a good deal for them. You still have to question whether or not you can really win with him consistently. If he’s Andy Dalton or Alex Smith and you’ve made that determination, go with it. But if you haven’t, don’t talk yourself into it. Be patient even if it means going into the marketplace and competing for him. You know no one will pay more money than you are. Could someone do something stupid? Anyone can. But when you do, you pay for it. Look at the Alex Mack contract with the Browns. They matched Jacksonville’s offer. Both teams were stupid. Two years later what has he done for the Browns? Nothing.

“I understand with Cousins that he’s a quarterback and what if we don’t have him. But I’m saying whatever we pay him is going to be more than anyone else and he’s in a system with a coach that knows him and he has a comfort level here. The agent knows that. The agent knows who the kid is, but he’ll do everything he can to milk as much money as he can. He’ll play on the desperateness that they have to have him. In these things the agents biggest allies are the coaches: ‘We can’t play without him.’ That’s what drives the market up, the internal pressure."

The franchise tag: This GM would want something done before the tag and certainly wouldn’t want to use it, feeling he’d lose all the leverage. The approximate $20 million tag number then becomes the baseline for talks. GM: “The tag for him is a great thing. Short of him getting hurt, he’ll get a good contract. He can take $5 million less next year from someone else because he already would have gotten the money with the franchise tag. There’s no downside for him. That’s the poker game they have to play. [Agent Mike] McCartney is happy with that. Now if he goes out and plays well, they have to pay.” If the Redskins don’t use the tag, the GM’s thought is that it would be because they’re comfortable with his likely value on the open market and they’d know another team would not pay him as much as the Redskins would. It’s hard to imagine the Redskins not using the tag, but this GM would be against the move (though he's not as high on Cousins as the Redskins are).

More leverage: The other thing on McCartney’s side: Mike Shanahan's consistent praising of Cousins; a cap that will increase this year and next, and a lack of good quarterback options on the open market, not to mention no strong backup plan for the Redskins (publicly at least). The GM's position starts to waver: “McCartney has a lot of things going for him that’s why I say you just have to pay him and then just move on. There is no other thinking. You’re not paying the player, you’re paying the value of the position; we're overpaying the talent because of the position he plays. That’s the only position you can take that philosophy and justify it. … Again if you’re [Jay] Gruden you’re asking the GM, ‘Who do we replace him with?’ I’ll tell you what happens, the room goes silent because the thought of who you replace him with is scarier than what you’re paying him.”

Final verdict: This is where the GM became resigned and even laughed about saying this is often how the thought process plays out: “In the end you pay him. Get it over with and if it doesn’t work out you go back to the drawing board. You’ve got no options. We can hypothesize all we want, but you’ve got to pay him. There’s no way they’ll all be on the same page about [being firm in negotiations]. If I’m Jay Gruden I’d say to Dan Snyder, ‘Are you going to watch me go 6-10 with Colt McCoy and then keep me?’ No. ... He’s not the reason we’re going to win, but the value of the position is what we’re paying. You have to be sober about that. It’s a tough one.”